Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1887-11-27
TEMPERANCE AGITATION.


Probable Outcome of the EGfOrt
80 sep ts,e a.iouor Traffic.
The following from the editor Of
HaIper'8 Weekly, will open the eyes
OF those who still dream that there is
any goal short Of Prohibition proposed
by the anti-liquor faction. 1t will
point, too, as clearly as daylight, that
there is no difference, except in de-
gree, between Republicanism and
Prohibition, and that the one must
swallow the other pure, or be engulfed
by it.
Ten years ago the consumption OF
liauor in Norway for every individual
was twice as large as it is now. In
the Southern and Western States OF
this country, which were especially
noted for hard drinking Il few years
ago, the temperance and even the pro-
hihition movement has maize aston
ishing progress. The knights of La
Dor, one of the la gest of such assocla-
tons. excludes mem hers Tor drunken
ness. and in the political situation OF
the country one Of the most serious
disturbing forces OF the two great par
i ties is the prohibition organization.
Wendell Phillips some years aga, ad-
vised the prohibitionists to stand up
and b. counted. ''Do you expect to
make men temperate by rec OF
law" asked friend. Il expect TO
promote temperance by stigmatizing
-+hop4,h was the answer.
1t was h rdly complete reply, be-
rause dram selling is stigmatzed by
license no 81 than by prohibition.
| rbe object OF license Ia ss Is to make
an evil that cannot be abolished pay
| in IL degree for is own consequences.
! The self-consciousnesS OF the traffic IS
shown by the curtains and screens
| that conceal the frequenter5 OF the
dram-shop from public view. 1t stlg-
matzes itself But the facts that we
mention show now general Is the
movement against it. In one south
western State, wherea few years since
IA Temperance man would have been
| in danger of exclusion from the dis
| trict. the dis rct now returns prohi-
hition majority. Bey nd the se.t in
! SelnlinaIia there are 81 J total alb 'ti-
nence societies, with 7S,00) members.
| Yet in that cold climate fiery liquors
have been held to be almo't indispen-
sable and drunkenness was COM
mon form of iestivity.
In this country from the days, near
" sixty wears ago, when MIR. Sargent
wrote NV Mothers Gold RIM" be-
ginning a 20, ular series OF temperance
| tracts. until now, when it dominates Il
! candidate for the Presidency, the tenn
perance movement has continued with
| fuctuating fortunes. At fiji st, as now.
it denounced drunkenness III the chief
source OF OF crime and suffering; but
| it proposed regulation by license, and
/ it tolerated moderate drinking. Pres
emily the cry OF prohibition arose in
! the Temperance IN yemen, like Garrl-
sons demand of immediate emanci-
patton in the ant lavery crusade.
| Moderate drinking WAS anatht matlzed
in the one like ''gradualism" in the
other as base and criminal coInpro-
mise, aud the ke-nest shafts OF lem
peranc,. denunciation were hurled at
these hal,ing and hesitating brethren
who i'll hankered after the tiesh-pots
| in the form of the wine-cuo, AMI who
were even alleged to be more truly the
enemies Of the good cause than the
drunkard and the dram-stller.
Naturally the radical demand be-
came, both in the temperance and the
anti slavery cause. the distinctive
movement. The various temperance
orders were total abstinence orgdnlzd-
tons. Ii an orator had ventured to
plead for moderat on rather than for
abstinence. he would have been lifted
from the platform by a whirlwind OF
protest, and it is only recently that
the asset ,tions for the strict enforce
ment OF liquor laws have given TO M
and practical force to the convict ms
of temperance men as distinguished
from ''teetotalers." But the feeling
is not relaxed DR.. Crosby, in New
York, who is an eminent cham pion OF
a wise license law firmly en-
forced, is viewed as temper
izer by the fervent prohl-
bitionists, who would gladly ami
hlate Intoxicating liquor itself. The
question is now inextricably inter
mingled with practical politics. The
universal agitation, the very large
number Of Americans who require a
moral issue in politics, the prohibitory
and license legislation, the Republic
can anti-saloon enterprise, the up
peals OF political leaders to the third
party men," the organization OF the
third party. and its steadily increasing
vote, all indicate growing and az
gressive power, and the necessity for
the old parties of relinquishing the
practice of merely denouncing the
LIQUOR traffic as the great source OF
crime and taking up definite positions.
The probable result of the agita-
ton will be division of the temper
ance sentiment into party OF sup
preston and a party of restriction.
The reasonable use OF wine as bev-
erage will hardly be generally re-
parded as moral wrong in the sense
that human slavery il q moral wrong.
That the use is extremely susceptible
Of abuse is obvious, and that itshould
be regulated and restrained, in the
pul,lic interests, is undeniable. Like
all such QUESTIONS, however, 1t is one
| Of expediency and degree. License
is regulation, and ii interference with
, the complete liberty of the liquor traf
) tic is permissible, the degree of in
!, tsrfarence must be determined by thu
/, actual situation. Society decides 10
4 itsalf how lar and in what manner ]
t will restrict individual freedom. l
1 ncnvi,las repulltions for the manufac